Annual Improvements cycle 2009-2011

Project objective

Changes to standards, however small, are time-consuming for the Board and burdensome for others. The IASB has adopted the Annual Improvements process to deal efficiently with a collection of narrow scope amendments to IFRSs even though the amendments are unrelated. The IFRS Interpretations Committee reviews the proposed amendments within the annual improvements process and makes recommendations to the IASB before they are issued.

Each year the IASB discusses and decides upon proposed improvements to IFRSs as they have arisen throughout the year. Issues dealt with in this process arise from matters raised by the IFRS Interpretations Committee and suggestions from staff or practitioners, and focus on areas of inconsistency in IFRSs or where clarification of wording is required. Annual Improvements follow the same due process as other amendments to IFRSs except that unrelated amendments can be exposed together, rather than separately. The exposure draft for Annual Improvements is normally published for comment for 90 days; this is shorter than the normal comment period for an exposure draft (120 days), reflecting the nature of Annual Improvements, i.e. they are clarifying or correcting in nature, and do not propose new principles or changes to existing ones.

Rather than separately publishing a series of piecemeal changes, the publication of the proposals in a single exposure draft is intended to streamline the standard-setting process, with benefits both for interested parties and for the IASB.

In May 2012, the IASB issued Annual Improvements 2009–2011 Cycle, a collection of amendments to IFRSs, in response to six issues addressed during the 2009–2011 cycle, as its latest set of annual improvements. The amendments reflect issues discussed by the IASB during the project cycle that began in 2009, and that were subsequently included in the exposure draft of proposed amendments to IFRSs, Improvements to IFRSs (published June 2011). The amendments are effective for annual periods beginning on or after 1 January 2013, although entities are permitted to apply them earlier.